


Catching Butterflies

by softgrungeprophet



Category: Supernatural
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Friendship, Gen, Motorcycles, Travel, Universe Alteration
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-10-04
Updated: 2013-10-04
Packaged: 2017-12-28 09:26:06
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,321
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/990407
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/softgrungeprophet/pseuds/softgrungeprophet
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Traveling, some storms, platonic snuggles, motorcycle-riding, a demon. The usual.<br/>Likely won't write the rest, but it stands fine on its own. Sorry. :/</p>
            </blockquote>





	Catching Butterflies

"I can't believe they found us again." Kevin sighed. He tapped his fingers on his knees. "We were only in the hotel room for like, two days. It's like they have a Prophet tracker."

Linda nodded. "But we always get away, so it's fine. The Winchesters were wrong. We're alright."

Kevin nodded, then twisted around in the passenger seat at the sudden sound of sirens. "Mom—I think they want you to pull over." The lights of a Thurston County police car flashed bright in the mirror.

"Dammit." Linda glanced at the cop car with a sigh and pulled off of the road, gravel clattering loudly against the car as she rolled to a stop. The car with blinking lights pulled up behind them, and a tall man stepped out. He sauntered over cocky and slow. Linda Tran hated men like him. She buzzed her window down and leaned out. "What is it?"

The police officer leaned down. "Hello Linda. We need your son." His voice was quiet, but clear.

Linda frowned. "Oh yeah?"

The officer's reply was drowned out by the loud roar of two motorbikes. He stiffened, eyes flashing black, and whirled. Linda flinched away. "Kevin, did you see that?"

"Yeah, mom." Kevin wrapped his fingers around his seatbelt. "...We should go. It might be one of Crowley's men."

Linda nodded and slammed her foot on the gas. The car lurched, and in the rearview she saw the demon whirl and raise an arm. Behind him approached two figures on Harleys wielding large, dangerous looking guns.

The car slammed to a stop with a creak before it got five feet. Smoke poured from the hood. The man with black eyes ran to them and ripped the driver's side door off its hinges. It hit the road with a screech and a clatter. Linda tore her seatbelt off and grabbed for her purse, pulling out a small plastic water pistol and aiming it at the demon. She shot a stream of water straight into his eyes and it burned and sizzled. The rosary inside the water pistol clacked as she shoved the man aside and tumbled from the car. She pulled Kevin along behind her, and they ran down the road.

Shouting followed after them.

An invisible force shoved them both down to the ground, and they hit the roadway with grunts.

"Fuck." Linda rolled onto her back. "The salt's in the trunk."

A gunshot rang out and their demon collapsed less than a foot away from them. Kevin's eyes widened as he sat up. "What—"

A woman strode up to them, sliding a menacing gun into a holster on her thigh. A badge glittered gold on her chest. She pulled Linda to her feet, then Kevin, then stuck her hand out. "Sheriff Jody Mills." She smiled. "You must be the Trans."

"How do you know our names?" Linda pulled her son behind her.

Jody snorted. "Well," She drew her hand back and shoved it in her pocket. "The Winchesters told us about you—" At Linda's sudden bristling, she laughed, and held up both her hands. "No, we're not gonna try and bring you back. Don't worry. We're just keeping you safe. Well, safer than you would be otherwise." She shook her head. "Damn demons."

Kevin frowned. "Who's we?"

"Oh—excuse my manners!" She shook her head, and her companion stopped beside her. He was much bigger than he'd seemed from a distance. "This is Benny Lafitte. He's a monster but then... I dunno, it's complicated." She waved her hand with a grin.

Benny tipped his cap at them.

Linda puffed out a heavy breath. "Well. Okay then. I'm Linda and this is Kevin. But you knew that." She finally shook Jody's hand, stiff and polite. "Thank you for helping us out back there, Sheriff."

"Oh, call me Jody!" The sheriff beamed down at Linda. "Anyway, looks like your car's busted. All we have are bikes, but we're ready to give you a ride. If you want."

"Can we say no?"

Jody hummed for a moment, thoughtful. "Nope." She winked. "There's nowhere near enough to walk and Crowley's goons are probably nearby." She gave a leisurely shrug. "That son of a bitch has a bigger army than anyone."

"Let me talk to my son for a moment." Linda stepped back. Jody nodded, and retreated with Benny to the side of the road.

Benny ducked his head toward her, as they watched Kevin and Linda speak quietly in the night. "Now ain’t he adorable," He tugged on the brim of his cap, eyeing Kevin’s hunched, shadowed form. Beside him, the sheriff scoffed.

"Hands off, grizzly bear! Dean said he had a girlfriend that died." Jody’s breath fogged on the night air. "He's like… traumatized or something. And probably straight. In the same way that you are probably straight. I think."

Benny laughed under his breath. “Sister, that boy’s much too young for me anyhow.” He rubbed his hands together, seeking friction, and smiled to himself. “But looks like he could use some good ol’ fashioned comfort, and I’m sure feelin’ that fatherly urge.” He winked at Jody. She snorted.

"Well good luck getting around his mommy." She blew into her cupped fingers. "She's fierce."

Benny laughed again, quiet. "I think I faced worse in Purgatory."

Jody rolled her eyes, then waved her hand and shouted, "Hey, Linda! You come to a conclusion?"

Linda nodded.

"Well, c'mere then!" Jody planted her hands on her hips.

With a huff, Benny sauntered over toward Kevin. He nodded at Linda as they passed each other. Stopped a foot or so away from her son. "Kevin, right? I’m Benny. You care for some company while your mama talks with my hunting partner?" His smile, he thought, was fairly gracious.

Kevin barely stirred. “‘M not gay.” He wrapped his arms tighter around himself, shivering.

Benny raised his eyebrows. “I figured. Don’t worry about that.”  He doffed his cap and shoved it into a pocket. “But you’re lookin’ awful cold, and I couldn’t bear if a poor child like you froze his behind off on account of a few hang-ups. I ain’t lookin’ to hit on you.” He focused on Kevin. “I just figured, what with runnin' away from monsters all the time, you might need a hug.”

Kevin peered up at him. He shifted, a little, rustling in the dim quiet. He cleared his throat. “…You  _do_  look warm.”

Benny chuckled, and held out his arm. “C’mere, kitten.” He pulled Kevin tight to his side, and Kevin went willingly, arms crossed tight, and let Benny wrap him up in his arms, all slow heat and strange kindness.

"This what they mean by ‘southern hospitality?’" Kevin mumbled.

On the other side of the road, Linda shouted, "You do anything to my baby and I'll rip your balls off!" She was met with Benny's laughter and a sincere promise not to do anything untoward. Satisfied, she turned to face Jody. "So. We've decided that we would, in fact, like a ride. To the nearest motel, preferably." She crossed her arms.

Jody nodded. "Of course. But, how'd you feel about a safehouse?" She smiled. "My place is pretty much impenetrable now." She snorted. "Hell, it ripped the bloodlust right out of Benny when I first let him come inside."

"What?" Linda's forehead creased. She squinted. "Is that even possible?"

"Yup!" Jody shoved her hands in her pockets, bouncing lightly on her feet. She leaned around and glanced at Benny, who was draping his jacket around Kevin's shoulders. She smirked and met Linda's eyes. "Or at least, it was possible the first time." She blew a cloud of foggy breath from her mouth into the cold air. "He was in a little bit of a pinch, so Dean sent him my way . He stepped over the threshold and kinda passed out for an hour. He didn't crave blood for like... three days afterward." She shrugged. "Weird shit. Hasn't happened since then, though."

Linda pulled a face. "No kidding?" She sniffled in the cold. Then, "Wait, Benny's a vampire?"

"Oh. Yeah." Jody smiled sheepishly. "1% violent bloodsucking beast, 99% giant handsome teddy bear." She laughed to herself.

Linda nodded, eyeing Benny over her shoulder. "Huh." She returned her attention to Jody. "So, you guys hunt?"

"Yeah. I got into it recently. Winchesters gave me a nice thorough rundown. Pictures of the baddies and everything." Jody tugged on one of her sleeves. "I've got a file on everything from Crowley's patterns to the typical workings of a bunyip." She patted the gun on her thigh. "And bullets that can kill demons. Learned that from Bobby Singer before he died. Bless his wrinkly old soul." She grinned at Linda. Then straightened up and hooked her thumbs in her pockets. "Anyway! Your son looks like he's about to freeze his ass off and I'm kinda hungry, so how about we all get on our way? You ride with me, Kevin rides with Benny?"

Linda bit her lip. "Does Kevin _have_ to ride with him?"

"Well, he doesn't _have_ to. But he'd be safer with a vampire than a human, probably."

Linda nodded. "Alright." She turned, and crossed her arms against the wind laced with a dusting of snow, and cleared her throat _._. "Kevin! We're going! Grab the backpacks!"

Kevin trotted over after retrieving their bags from the trunk of their busted car, with one backpack slung over his shoulder and the other hanging from his arm, huddled into Benny's jacket, pulling it tighter about himself. It hung down nearly to his knees, and the sleeves covered his hands entirely. No one said a thing, but all three honestly thought it was adorable. Jody definitely sniggered a little as she pulled her helmet on. Linda pinched her when she got onto the police bike behind her, pulling her own bag onto her back, and was rewarded with a flinch.

Benny pulled a spare helmet—silver colored and shiny in a watery way—from his saddlebag and tossed it to Kevin, who nearly dropped it. Kevin smiled awkwardly at him and shoved the helmet onto his head, climbing on behind Benny before fastening it completely. Benny's cap went into the same compartment the silver helmet came from. He himself didn't wear a helmet, though Kevin saw a glimpse of one—matte black and visor-less—in the side compartment.

Benny twisted a little to look over his shoulder at Kevin. "Hold on tight, sweetheart. We don't want you to go flyin' away." He revved the engine.

Kevin flinched at the sudden growl from the bike underneath him. "Oh—uh—right." He cleared his throat and wrapped his arms around Benny's middle, feeling a little warm. He saw his mom doing the same with Sheriff Mills, as they pulled off onto the narrow country road, and smiled. Benny's black Harley lurched, and peeled out onto the asphalt with a roar, and Kevin felt like he'd left behind most of his insides and filled his empty thoracic cavity with marmalade.

Clinging to Benny's back, thankful for the ridiculous amount of heat the vampire generated, Kevin watched the trees zip past, stretching into smears of black and green in the darkness.

Sometimes they passed a house, and the yellow windows beamed out into the night.

Other times, rumbling trucks full of wood or hay.

Little white flecks of snow splattered the visor of Kevin's helmet with drops of water.

It began to snow in earnest around sunrise. Jody signaled Benny and pulled off into the first place with lodging she saw—a place called [Blue Moon Farm](http://archiveofourown.org/works/990407/), near Oakville. Jody tugged her helmet off and heaved a sigh. "Goddammit."

"What?" Kevin slid off the bike with shaky legs. He almost tripped, but Benny caught his arm and righted him.

Jody shook her head. A few snowflakes snagged onto her hair. "Nothin' bad. I was just hoping this place would be like a normal B 'n' B but it's more of a uh... hippie farm that rents out cottages. Lemme go check it out." She rubbed her hands together and ran up to the front of the main house. A man opened the door before she got there, having heard the bikes.

"Hey there! I'm Jody. I was wondering if you have any lodging available." She hunched her shoulders.

The man smiled. "We sure do. For all four of you folks?"

Jody nodded.

"Well then, you can stay in that little blue house just down the way, ten bucks a night, per lodger."

"Wow!" Jody's eyes widened and her eyebrows went up. "That's pretty cheap! You guys haunted, or what?" She laughed. Her eyes glinted with sharp attention though, ready to hop on a job if need be.

The man chortled, tugging on his suspenders. "Nah, ma'am. 'Round here we're just generous. Plenty people stay for free, most pay less than twenty dollars." He smiled. "It's just nice to have company on the farm, y'see."

"Ah, I understand that." Jody shook her head, and relaxed, and watched the man pull a key down from beside the door. She took it from him with cold fingers and a "Thank you very much."

She grabbed her bags from the back of her bike, nodding her head toward the tiny blue house and jingling the keys. Linda and Kevin followed behind her, and Benny brought up the back, tugging his cap down tight to keep the snow from his eyes.

Inside the little cabin were two queen sized beds, a dresser, a lamp, and a bathroom.

Jody twisted the heat knob around, threw her bags onto the bed by the window, and grabbed Linda's bags to throw them down as well. She spun. "Girls in one bed, boys in the other. I ain't sharing with a dirty old man." She smirked, and shook snow out of her hair. "No offense, Benny."

"None taken." Benny smiled.

Linda snorted. "Not gonna lie, I'm a little relieved." She shrugged out of her jacket, dropping it to the floor and sitting on the bed. "Kevin _kicks_ in his sleep."

"No I don't!" Kevin pulled his sweatshirt over his head, shirt riding up beneath it momentarily, and hung it from the coat rack by the door. "That's you!"

Linda rolled her eyes. "Oh yeah, you keep tellin' yourself that." She dug around in her backpack until she found her pajamas and a toothbrush. "Now I'm gonna get ready to sleep and hope those curtains keep out the sunlight." She disappeared into the bathroom.

Jody chuckled under her breath, and began stripping out of her clothes until she was down to a pair of long johns. She twisted around and slipped her bra off without removing her shirt. Kevin blushed, covering his eyes. She laughed at him. "Aw, come on. You didn't see a thing, so don't be embarrassed." She slid under the covers.

Benny drew the curtains, and they were thick enough to plunge the room into gloom as Kevin undressed. The interior of the cabin was already much warmer than the winter weather outside, thanks to the quick-working baseboard heaters lining the walls. He crawled shyly onto the other bed, centered in the one-room house. Benny, already on the bed in a Henley and what Kevin thought might be long underwear, snorted in the darkness.

"C'mon now, kitten. I ain't gonna bite. _Much_."

Kevin rolled his eyes. "That joke is so overdone." He sat on his knees atop the covers.

Benny scoffed, and reached out to grab Kevin's arm and pull him down, dragging the blankets up over them both. "Shush and lay down."

Linda popped out of the bathroom then, and jumped into bed beside Jody. Kevin tried to sit up, but Benny pulled him back down. He grumbled, and sat up again, pushing Benny's hand away. "I need to brush my teeth!"

Benny chuckled. "Fine, fine."

In the bathroom, Kevin flossed and brushed his teeth and washed his face and used the toilet. The routine made him feel a little more secure. A little less lost. He finished, and stared at himself in the mirror for a few seconds, pushing his hair back from his forehead—he'd had it cut recently, but it had already begun to get a little shaggy. With a sigh, he returned to the main room and climbed into bed beside Benny, back to back, appreciative of the warmth radiating from the larger man.

They slept late. Around one in the afternoon Linda woke with her face pressed into the sheriff's shoulder. She yawned, and went to the bathroom and showered and got dressed, and came back out to discover that Kevin—little heat-seeking boy that he was—had plastered himself to Benny's back while he slept. She took a picture with her phone before opening every curtain in the cabin. Blinding light reflected off the low white clouds and the damp ground. None of the snow had stuck.

Jody grumbled under her breath but sat up. Kevin didn't notice a thing thanks to the fact that his face was shoved practically between Benny and the bed. Benny raised his head, squinting.

"Be a doll and tell me what time it is." He scratched at his beard.

Linda glanced at her watch, as she made sure everything was packed in its proper place. "1:30 and I'm starving." She sat on the mattress. Beside her, Jody rubbed her face and swept her hair back into a less unruly position.

Benny nodded. "I think we could all go for something." He rolled out of bed, and rummaged in his own bag until he found what he wanted—a pair of sunglasses. He settled them on his face , and began to pull on his clothes one piece at a time, slow and relaxed.

On the bed, Kevin rolled onto his back. "Ugh." He threw an arm over his face. "Who's claiming the shower?"

"Ladies first!" Jody jumped out of bed, bundling her clothes into her arms.

Kevin groaned, but didn't move as Jody locked herself into the bathroom and set the shower running. "I get the cold shower, then." He sat up with a sigh. By the window, Benny laughed, shrugging his jacket on in one smooth movement.

"Be glad the bathroom has a heater you can stand over when you dry, boy." He crossed his arms. "When I was a child, we most definitely did not have heated wash closets." He sounded stern, but his eyes were clearly amused, and the inkling of a smile showed on his mouth.

Kevin scratched the back of his neck. "Yeah, I guess that's true..." He looked down at his socked feet, a little pink in the face. Linda laughed.

Unsurprisingly, when Kevin got his turn in the shower the water was a bit on the lukewarm side. But it was true that standing close to a heater while he toweled himself off was pleasant. Plus Jody had hung all of the towels above the heater, so those felt especially warm as well.

They left the room about as clean as they found it, and went outside. The weather had warmed just barely, but the breeze still whipped a little cold. Jody knocked on the front door, and the man answered, and she handed him forty dollars. He folded the money into his wallet with a slow nod, and waved them off as they took off with a roar of their engines.

They stopped briefly in Elma for what amounted to a very, very late breakfast, and were quickly on their way again.

The sunset seen from the road shone red and vibrant through the clouds, big and strange and pretty.

At midnight, lightning crackled in the distance. Thunder rattled the visor on Kevin's helmet. It was far, but loud. The clouds smeared down from the sky, like watercolors, black and damp. Flashes of light filled their depths, then forks of orange lightning crawled down the sky in long tendrils. Thunder louder than the sparse highway traffic and the rumble of their motorbikes ripped through the air.

It began to rain.

And the rain threw itself down hard and fast and thick so that Jody raised her arm and rocketed onto a narrow farm road and rolled to a stop in front of a dirty old chapel. Benny followed. Mud painted their boots and tires.

Their surroundings alternated between pitch dark and bright as morning, and the downpour churned the dirt road into a liquid mess. They pushed the motorcycles into the small abandoned church, leaning them on the wall inside. When the thunder came, it shook the windows. Water dripped in from holes in the roof.

Shaking water off like a dog, Benny sat in the foremost pew on the left. One of four, with chipped white paint. The others sat beside him, damp and cold and shaking. He pulled them closer to him. The rain thrummed loud on the roof.

The storm lasted an hour.

Kevin stepped outside first, closely followed by the other three, and turned his face up to the clearing sky. Most of the clouds had dissipated, leaving behind a black sky spangled with a thick dusting of stars, bright and beautiful. Kevin stared and stared, breathing shallowly through his nose. His mother did the same. They'd traveled a lot in the past year, but they had always stayed in hotels and the like, and never really traveled at night—at least not through places where you could see the milky way clearly.

Kevin had never seen so many stars in his life.

"Impressed?" Benny laid a hand on Kevin's shoulder, and his other on Linda's, craning his head back. He smiled. Serene. "The sky made me believe in God when I was a boy."

Kevin glanced at Benny from the corner of his eye. "I can see why."

They dawdled a while longer, but eventually left in the silver light of the moon.

They made it over the pass, heading east through Washington. Snow lined the roads much more thick and heavy, expanses of white stretching through the trees. Even past the mountains, everything was coated in ice and snow. The weather on the eastern side of the Cascades seemed a lot colder than the western side. Kevin recalled, vaguely, something about the mountains themselves being the cause of that.

He was just glad to have Benny's heat to cling to as they rumbled through the cold, monotonous landscape.

After several long hours, they neared a city, and its yellow and red lights loomed from the burgeoning sunrise like an electric island. Kevin didn't see the name of the place, but it wasn't especially important. It was larger than its surrounding towns, and—more importantly—had a decent motel they could check into, even at five in the morning.

In their hotel room, Kevin threw himself onto his back on one of the two beds. "Where exactly are we going?"

"Back to South Dakota. That's where I live."

"What?!" Kevin sat up. "That'll take days!"

Jody rolled her eyes. "It's only like... 18 hours." She shrugged. "Anyway, would you rather get eaten by demons?" She raised her eyebrows, crossing her arms behind her head and leaning against the wall.

Kevin sighed. "I guess not." He rubbed his eyes. "I wish we could get there faster though."

"Yeah and I wish I had a hot tub." Jody grinned. "Life sucks sometimes, kid. But once we get to my place you can relax, and I can take a nice long bath." She closed her eyes. "Maybe I'll cook a turkey for Christmas." She heaved a sigh. "And a chocolate cake."

Kevin groaned and rolled onto his stomach. "Stop talking." He buried his face into an overly soft pillow, wrapping his arms tight around it. Jody laughed from the other bed. He scowled. The bed dipped, as Benny sat down beside him, and he grabbed the edge of the mattress to keep from rolling over. He mumbled, "God, you're big," into his pillow.

Benny chuckled.

They spent the next two days traveling through several states, through snow and rain and cold sunshine. On one memorable occasion, they got jumped by a small nest of vampires while spending the night in an old abandoned house in North Dakota. But between Benny and Jody, the nest was depleted fairly quickly, and they set both the bodies and the rundown house alight.

They made it to Jody's house finally, just around two in the morning as snow began to drift from the sky. In the darkness, sigils glowed on the windows and the siding of the otherwise innocuous little house. Luminescent spray-paint, Kevin guessed. Jody shut the fence behind them, and Benny eyed it with a frown.

"I feel like a caged animal when you do that." He tugged on the brim of his cap.

Jody snorted, and opened the front door with a broad gesture. "Well, at least I don't have to worry about you running away!"

"No one would put out the effort to break through three lines of defenses just to get away from you." Benny grumbled, and flinched briefly as he stepped over the threshold. "I mean really, woman. Who sets up a pentagram-shaped network of running pipes in the basement?" He shrugged out of his coat and hung it on a hook by the door.

Jody bolted the door in three different places and retorted, "Well, obviously _I_ do. Anyway, running all that water keeps the pipes from bursting in the winter." She smirked and stripped off her jacket and holsters. She set them on a table in the hallway. "Now stop whining and show Kevin and Linda the guest room. I'm gonna make breakfast before we all go back to bed."

"By 'guest room' I assume you mean my room." Benny stuffed his hat into his back pocket, and led the Trans toward the back of the house, into a bedroom with boarded up windows. Various devil's traps and other sigils were spray-painted onto the boards and walls, as well as the ceiling and the floor. He spread his arms wide, to take in the king-sized bed and the futon in the corner. He smiled, charmingly. "One of you's gonna have to share with me. I don't fit on that little futon."

Before Kevin could say anything, Linda cried out, "Teenager gets to sleep with the vampire!" She plopped her bags down on the futon, and sat beside them with her hands folded in her lap. She grinned.

Kevin rolled his eyes. "You're so immature, mom."

"Hey!" She frowned. "I'm older! I'm allowed to be immature whenever I want." She crossed her arms.

Benny chuckled and left the room, and Kevin snorted, kneeling in front of his bag and rummaging through it for some softer clothes. He changed while his mother showered in the adjacent bathroom, and then he sat on the very comfortable bed for a few minutes. The smell of frying potatoes wafted down the hall. He rose to his feet and padded toward where he thought the kitchen might be. Stopped in the doorway when he found the right room. He smiled at the sight of Jody in her pajamas cooking hash browns and waffles. Benny sat at the small kitchen table with bare feet and a steaming mug in his hands—probably blood, heated up on the stove.

Jody took notice of Kevin in the doorway and grinned. "Waffle?" She nodded her head to a plate with one thick brown waffle sitting on it. Kevin nodded, and took it to the table.

"Thanks."

"No problem." Jody set a bottle of blueberry syrup and a stick of butter on the table in front of him. "Everyone loves some nice hot breakfast food after days of torturous travel." She winked.

Kevin gave her an awkward smile. "Yeah." He forewent the butter and drowned his waffle in syrup, sweet and purple and viscous. He ate it slowly, so that he wasn't even halfway done by the time his mother emerged from the bathroom.

"Oh my God, are you a saint or something?" Linda pushed wet hair back from her forehead and leaned against the counter. "Those are the most heavenly looking potatoes I have ever seen."

Jody scoffed. "I'm no saint, but thank you." She scooped some hash browns in equal portions onto two plates. On her own, she also set a waffle. Then tilted her head. "You want one?"

"No thanks," Linda scooted her way in front of the stove, plate in one hand. "But I will steal some more of these potatoes. And uh... do you have any coffee?" She shoveled a few more scoops of potatoes onto her plate.

Jody nodded. "Just finished making some." She poured dark coffee from her French press into two large mugs. "How do you take it?"

"Black as sin." Linda grinned, eyes wide.

Jody let out a surprised snort of laughter. "Well then, here you go!" She passed Linda the plain black coffee, and poured a load of creamer and honey into her own cup until it turned a soft, creamy brown the color of nutmeg. She sipped from it, eyes closed, leaning against the counter with her ankles crossed, and hummed.

Linda sat in the middle of the floor—the table only seated two—and set to work demolishing her food. She gulped from her coffee with a pleased grimace and exclaimed, "That's bitter!" She raised her eyebrows. "Where on earth do you get your coffee?"

Jody laughed. "It's local."

"Yeah?" Linda sipped at it again. "Well it's very nice."

At the table, Kevin laughed into his arm. He stood and took his dirty plate to the sink, and returned to the table. He set his head in his arms, and watched the snow fall in the darkness through the kitchen window.

He woke up at six in the morning with an intense need to pee and no idea how he'd gotten into Benny's bed. He blinked in the black room. He must have fallen asleep at the table and been carried there. He sighed, and rolled out of bed—almost falling to the floor—and made his way to the bathroom, his way lit by a lamp in the hallway with a rusty orange light bulb. (The rising sun might have provided some illumination, but it turned out that whichever windows weren't boarded up were either painted over with black house paint or covered with thick, heavy purple fabric.

He nearly jumped out of his skin with a soft yelp when he left the bathroom and saw Jody's silhouette at the end of the hall.

"Shit!" Jody put a hand to her chest, clutching a glass in one hand. "Sorry! Sorry. I was just getting some water." She let out a nervous giggle. "I'm not used to having people other than Benny in the house at night. He just sits in the living room and reads until sunrise."

Kevin shook his head, with a deep breath. "No—It's fine. I just didn't expect to see someone there." He grinned at her. "Um. Goodnight, I think?"

"Night. Sleep in as late as you need." Jody waved her hand at him and made her way back to her bedroom. Kevin slipped into the guest room.

He could just make out the slope of his mom's shoulders in the darkness, and the larger shape of Benny climbing onto the mattress.

He slid under the covers as Benny settled down, and let Benny tug him close under the blankets.

"Don't want your fingers and toes to fall off now, kitten." Benny's low voice rumbled in Kevin's ear, and Kevin smiled. He scooted into the heat Benny radiated, pulling his knees up so his toes weren't under the cold part of the blankets.

Benny draped an arm over Kevin's side.

Kevin fell asleep almost immediately.


End file.
